Milestones

RESIGNED. XIE ZHENHUA, 56, Director of China's State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA); in the aftermath of the Nov. 13 chemical plant explosion, which spewed 100 tons of pollutants into the Songhua River; in Beijing. Xie is the highest-ranking official to lose his job over an environmental disaster. Official reports gave no details on Xie's role in government decisions to withhold information from the public about the river contamination, which resulted in a four-day shut-off of water for more than 3 million people in the city of Harbin. The poisonous slick, expected to reach the Russian city of Khabarovsk on Dec. 15,...